Posted by PeterB on June 18, 2013 · Leave a Comment
We had another enhancement sneak in last week under the radar. Some of you have already noticed it. When you navigate to your Other Courses within Educator, this new layout will be presented to you:
INSTRUCTOR and STUDENT roles will separate your “other courses.” This should prove especially useful for navigating those courses as a Teaching Assistant (noted in red). Using the Enter Course button will get you into a particular course in the designated role. We think it’s pretty handy. Give the navigation a try, and let us know what you think. We’ll be back (same time and channel) later this week.
Posted by PeterB on June 13, 2013 · 1 Comment
The bulk “EX” feature introduced last month was met with many happy comments and even more suggestions. After reviewing your ideas and working on the Educator code, the development team presents Bulk EX: The Sequel.
Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.
~ Benjamin Franklin
Next time you visit the Set Student Exemptions page, you’ll notice some changes:
How’s that for progress?
Understanding how these buttons work will reduce your learning curve. Think of these as push on/off toggle switches. Push once; it’s on. Push again; it’s off. You’ll figure it out in no time; just watch what happens to the exempt checkmarks with each click.
CAUTION: Before you go clicking buttons, make sure you look at your current list of exemptions.
Make note of any already in play in case you need to reset.
The use cases are obvious. Honors status and segment exemptions can be issued more quickly now. There are other tools on this page for your use. There is the Filter box with which you should already be familiar. Filtering can be done with more than one word. Just separate the keywords with a space. For example, to filter all exams that are honors, just type “exam (space) honors” in the filter box. Note the EXEMPT box in the top row. This box is similar to a SELECT ALL feature. It will check or uncheck everything that is on the screen. No matter which path you choose to follow, the development team wanted to make it most efficient for you to process exemptions. Let us know what you think on our Facebook page.
Remember to explain your exemptions in the text box below. Remember that this will only apply to assignments. It will not apply to exams or worksheets, as those have always been in the feedback area.
INTERNET EXPLORER NOTE: The IE exemption bug has been fixed! Setting exemptions will now work through all browsers. Please advise of any issues.
When you’re happy with your displayed exemptions you must hit the SUBMIT button for those changes to take effect. If you are not happy, you will appreciate the RESET button even more.
For those interested in the numbers, the graph below represents the number of unique students and teachers who logged into Educator over the past two weeks. Look what’s happening this week!
If you have not yet read this week’s FLVS Virtual Voice blog post, you should. The story strikes a chord on the entire Ucompass Educator team. It’s our mission to create world-class service for you and your students. It’s what we expect of ourselves. On that note …
If you can dream it, you can do it.
~ Walt Disney
Posted by PeterB on June 8, 2013 · Leave a Comment
Where are the umbrella drinks? 
The Ucompass Spring Gathering has a lot of moving parts, and it’s not all play. Members of the team have gathered to discuss our trajectory for the next 18 months. Topics included Educator, blended learning, and the focus of our new learning and teaching platform. Of course, Florida Virtual School and the districts throughout Florida was a focus of our dialogue yesterday.
The work and fun continue today. Maybe the umbrella drinks will be there?
Posted by Steve Lippert on June 7, 2013 · Leave a Comment
Background
About a year ago I was lucky enough to join the fantastic Educator team here at Ucompass. I’ve lived my whole life here in Southeastern Wisconsin. For the past ten years or so I’ve worked for two local companies as Information Technology Support, Systems Administration, and Application Programming. Next year I’ll be getting married to my beautiful fiancé Liz.
Steve and Liz just after getting engaged at Kennedy Space Center!
Typical Day
Like most people my day starts off by catching up on e-mail and responding to any tickets that have come in overnight. While most days I set goals for what I wish to accomplish that day, I’ve learned that some days it just isn’t possible to accomplish them. Living in the support realm means that a majority of my day is dictated by any issues that might come up. After our morning Educator development meeting I head off to work on the project(s) for the week or respond to any tickets that came in during the meeting. I truly enjoy the challenge that working support offers. I find helping people to be its own reward.
When there are no support tickets to close, I spend my time working on enhancements to Educator, writing a report for Peter, or crafting another support tool to make our life easier. While my main responsibility is Educator support, I really enjoy the time I spend programming. At the end of the day … I can look at a web page or tool I created and see the fruits of my labor. I genuinely love the challenge of creating something that will make someone’s life easier.
Steve and Liz celebrating New Years Eve
Interests
When I’m not working, I have a variety of interests. In no particular order I enjoy online video games, reading, watching movies, spending time with Liz playing board games, working on my car, building computers, camping, and even trying to solve work problems.
With the beginning of summer one of my favorite activities comes into season … drinking flavored milk at the Wisconsin State Fair! For just 25 cents a cup you can have milk flavored like a melted root beer float, or cherry, vanilla, or strawberry. There’s also my favorite, banana!
Steve drinking flavored milk
Posted by PeterB on June 5, 2013 · 1 Comment
Nothing replaces being in the same room, face-to-face, breathing the same air, and reading and feeling each other’s micro-expressions.
~ Peter Guber
Why are we early this week? The Tallahassee Regional Airport will roll out the red carpet to welcome an array of visitors from around the country this week. For three days beginning tomorrow some of the most creatively agile minds in education technology will gather to share fresh ideas, evolve some older ones, and explore new horizons. What’s the occasion? What brings together this horde of talent? It‘s the annual Ucompass Spring Gathering!
Don’t expect to see many changes in your Educator world this week. The team is going to be very busy. We have plans that center on umbrella drinks, poolside fun, some great food, a little boating … it’s just one big party. Seriously, we will be diligently planning our trajectory and evolution for the next year.
There is really a lot of work to be done. There will certainly be many conversations about the suggestions and ideas you’ve already shared on our Facebook page. The user experience will be a conversation cornerstone. Dialogue about the new teaching and learning system that is coming to life sometime next year will have an intense focus on our agenda. Ucompass has also added a crew of talented personnel to our ranks in recent months. This gathering will afford the entire group some time to acclimate and eyeball each other for the first time.
Much like so many of you, this is our annual opportunity to make eye contact with each other, shake hands, and smile. It’s that time when the chemistry kicks in, and some magical moments just burst overhead. You know the world; you know the feeling; you know how important it is.
We’ll be back with a full shopping cart of ideas and enhancements next week. The Educator team is just pulling into the yard for some routine annual maintenance. We have routes to plan to some exciting new destinations. Think of this week as an upgrade to our engine and services. Based on your tremendous feedback to date, it is wonderfully apparent that together we are making great strides in improving the teaching and learning experience for you and your students. Would you agree? While our development team gets all the credit, it is really your dialogue that fuels our progress. If you have not done so recently, take some time and visit our Facebook page. Join in one of the many dialogues that have blossomed there. It’s our welcome task here at Ucompass to keep this train moving, and we really appreciate your efforts on this journey. All aboard!
Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.
~ Henry Ford
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